Wednesday, 19 October 2011

A Chinese Special----Red-billed (Silky) Starling

The Red-billed Starling (or Silky Starling) is a medium sized starling and a resident of Southeast China, although rare sightings have been recorded in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. As its name indicates, the Red-billed Starling has a red bill with dark tip, and a grey coloured body.

While the male bird has a distinctive whitish head,

the head of the female is mainly brownish.

But both sexes have orange coloured legs.

Each year, the Red-billed Starlings travel from Southeast China to Hong Kong to spend the winter here. A couple of days ago, I saw several birds feeding in mutflats during a very low tide. Unlike most of the shorebirds, the Red-billed Starlings search for food through cracks in the dry mud.

Sometimes, they even put the entire head down to look for insects trapped in the shallow water.